Label for an electronic product that provides failure information when the product fails

ABSTRACT

A label on an electronic product may be written electronically and maintains the last display state when power is removed from the label. There are many different types of digital paper and electronic paper known in the art that would be suitable for use as such labels. The label includes multiple defined regions that may be independently written, with one of the regions defined to display failure information for the electronic product. In one implementation, the failure information is available on the electronic product itself. In another implementation, the failure information includes information received from a source external to the electronic product. The display of failure information on the label may be in human-readable and/or machine-readable form. The result is a label on an electronic product that provides reliable information regarding a failure of the electronic product.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This patent application is a continuation of a patent application withthe same title, Ser. No. 11/532,971 filed on Sep. 19, 2006, which isincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

This invention generally relates to detecting failures in electronicproducts, and more specifically relates to ways of indicating failuresof an electronic product.

2. Background Art

Failures in an electronic product may be difficult to diagnose. When aproduct fails, a technician typically performs some action to diagnosethe failure, and the failed product may then be tested further after itis returned. Current methods for documenting failures use either paperthat is attached to a failed electronic product, or send failureinformation to a database which can then be retrieved later as needed.Both of these methods suffer from potential human errors caused by thetechnician that diagnoses the problem entering incorrect or incompleteinformation, and may require the technician that receives the paper ordatabase failure information to perform further tests or to perform datamining and analysis of the failure information. Without a way toautomate the process of identifying failed parts and acting on thefailure information, the electronics industry will continue to sufferthe drawbacks of known inefficient and error-prone methods fordocumenting failure of an electronic product.

BRIEF SUMMARY

A label on an electronic product may be written electronically andmaintains the last display state when power is removed from the label.There are many different types of digital paper and electronic paperknown in the art that would be suitable for use as such labels. Theseare thin plastic films that allow the display of information in anon-volatile manner such that the display state remains when power isremoved. The label includes multiple defined regions that may beindependently written, with one of the regions defined to displayfailure information for the electronic product. In one implementation,the failure information is available on the electronic product itself.In another implementation, the failure information includes informationreceived from a source external to the electronic product. The displayof failure information on the label may be in human-readable and/ormachine-readable form. The result is a label on an electronic productthat provides reliable information regarding a failure of the electronicproduct.

The foregoing and other features and advantages will be apparent fromthe following more particular description, as illustrated in theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

The disclosure will be described in conjunction with the appendeddrawings, where like designations denote like elements, and:

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram of a prior art method for detecting failure ofa failed electronic product;

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of an electronic product thatwrites failure information to a specified region of an electronic label;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a method for an electronic product to detecta failure and display corresponding failure information on an electroniclabel on the electronic product;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a method for an electronic product todynamically change product information in a first region of a label whenthe product information changes;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method for an electronic product todynamically change failure information in a second region of a labelwhen a failure occurs;

FIG. 6 is a top view of an electronic label with two independent regionson a memory module;

FIG. 7 is a side view of the memory module in FIG. 6 taken along theline 7-7;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of an electronic product that includesan enclosure 830 with an electronic label 250 on the enclosure 830;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a sample system that allows gatheringfailure information that is not available from the electronic productitself and displaying this failure information on the electronicproduct; and

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of a method for the sample system in FIG. 9 todisplay information that is not available on the electronic product onthe failure region of the electronic label on the electronic product.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

1.0 Overview

The preferred embodiments relate to documenting a failure of anelectronic product. For those not familiar with current practices fordocumenting failures for electronic products, this overview section willhelp to understand the present invention.

Known Method for Documenting Failures for Electronic Products

An example prior art method 100 in FIG. 1 is performed when anelectronic product fails. When an electronic product fails, a techniciantypically determines that the electronic product failed (step 110). Thetechnician may use any suitable tool, hardware and/or software, todetect the failure. The technician then enters failure information forthe electronic product (step 112). This failure information is typicallyinformation entered into a computer system such as a laptop computer ora handheld computer. If the technician has a way to transmit the failureinformation electronically, it is transmitted (step 120=YES). Theelectronic product is then sent for further processing (step 140). Atechnician then receives the electronic product that was sent (step142). The technician accesses the failure information in the database(step 144), and takes action based on the failure information in thedatabase (step 146).

In many cases the technician has no way to transmit the failureinformation (step 120=NO). In this case, the failure information for thefailed electronic product is printed on paper (step 122). The paper isthen attached to the electronic product (step 124), and the electronicproduct and attached paper are sent for further processing (step 126). Atechnician receives the electronic product with the attached paper (step128), and takes action based on the failure information on the attachedpaper (step 130).

There are several problems with the prior art methods for handling afailure of an electronic product. The technician determines the failurein step 110. The step of diagnosing the failure is thus prone to humanerrors. The technician enters the failure information for the electronicproduct in step 112. The technician may enter incorrect or incompleteinformation, which may require further testing of the failed electronicproduct. Step 112 is thus prone to human errors as well. For the case offailure information on paper in steps 122-130, the paper can be damagedor misplaced. In addition, the paper may be a source of electro-staticenergy that can damage sensitive electronic components. For the case offailure information stored in a database in steps 140-146, thetechnician that accesses the failure information in step 144 may have touse advanced data mining skills to correlate the failure information,which requires a specialized skill set and is time-consuming.

2.0 Detailed Description

An electronic product includes a label that has a defined failure regionin addition to one or more other regions. The label may be writtenelectronically, and may include information in both human-readable andmachine-readable form. In one implementation, failure information thatis available on an electronic product is written to the failure regionof the label when a failure is detected by the electronic product. Inanother implementation, failure information that is not available on theelectronic product is received from an external source and is written tothe failure region of the label. A failed product may thus display anysuitable failure information on its label.

Referring to FIG. 2, an electronic product 210 includes functionalcircuitry 220 that defines the function of the electronic product. Forexample, functional circuitry 220 for a network interface card mightinclude a network interface chipset. The electronic product 210 alsoincludes a memory 230 that stores product information 232 and failureinformation 234. Memory 230 is preferably non-volatile memory. Productinformation 232 may be any information relating to the electronicproduct 210. Vital product data (VPD) is known in the art as onesuitable type of product information 232. Failure information 234 mayinclude any suitable information that may pertain to a failure. Examplesof failure information that might be useful include: date and time offailure; machine type and model of parent system that the electronicproduct came from; system serial number that the electronic product camefrom; hours of operation for the electronic product before the failurewas reported; one or more codes that indicate the cause of the failure;whether multiple failures of the electronic product have occurred;register data, if available; information regarding whether theelectronic product may be reworked to overcome the failure; whetherother electronic products have also failed; system characteristics atthe point of failure, such as voltage, frequency, temperature, etc.;configuration information, such as where the electronic product wasinstalled when it failed, etc. A label interface 240 is coupled to thememory 230 and to an electronic label 250. The label interface 240includes a first region interface 242 and a second region interface 244.Each of these interfaces 242 and 244 independently drive the firstregion 252 and second region 254 on the electronic label 250. In thismanner, the two display regions of the electronic label 250 may beindependently updated as required.

The first region interface 242 monitors the product information 232 inthe memory 230, and each time the product information 232 changes, thefirst region interface 242 writes information corresponding to theproduct information to the first region 252 of the electronic label 250.In this manner, a change to the product information 232 is automaticallyreflected in the first region 252 of the electronic label 250. Thesecond region interface 244 monitors the failure information 234 in thememory 230, and each time the failure information 234 changes, thesecond region interface 244 writes information corresponding to theproduct information to the second region 254 of the electronic label250. In this manner, a change to the failure information 234 isautomatically reflected in the second region 254 on the electronic label250.

IBM uses the terminology “field replaceable unit” (FRU) to reflect anyelectronic product (or part) that may be easily replaced in the field.Cards that reside in card slots on a motherboard are good examples ofFRUs, but the term FRU applies to any and all field-replaceable items.Note that electronic product 210 in FIG. 2 includes IBM FRUs as well asany other suitable electronic product. The electronic label 250 may beused on any type of electronic product, so long as memory 230 includesfailure information 234 that may be written by the label interface 240to a defined region 254 of the electronic label.

Electronic label 250 is any suitable media that can be electronicallywritten, and that maintains the current state of the displayedinformation when power is removed, whether currently known or developedin the future. Examples of suitable media include electronic ink andelectrochromic polymers. Electronic ink typically provides microcapsulesthat contain positively charged particles of one color and negativelycharged particles of a different, contrasting color. The capsules arealigned using an electric field to display the desired color.Electrochromic polymers produce a color change in a persistent butreversible manner by means of an electrochemical reaction. Bothelectronic ink and electrochromic polymers have been used as “electronicpaper.” The label interface 240 preferably provides power to theelectronic label 250. This allows the label interface 240 to write tothe label 250 anytime the label interface 240 is active and detects achange in the product information 232 or failure information 234.

Referring to FIG. 3, a method 300 shows how the electronic productstores failure information. When the electronic product determines afailure occurred (step 310), the electronic product generates failureinformation that describes the failure (step 320). The electronicproduct then writes the failure information to memory (step 330). Theelectronic product thus performs continuous or periodic built-inself-tests to determine whether a failure has occurred, and when itdetects a failure, the failure information that reflects the failure iswritten to the memory. When the label interface 240 detects a change inthe failure information 234, the second region interface 244 writes datacorresponding to the changed failure information to the second region254 of the electronic label 250, as described below with reference toFIG. 5.

Referring to FIG. 4, a method 400 shows how the label is dynamicallychanged as the product information is updated. The first regioninterface 242 reads the product information (step 410). The first regioninterface 242 writes data corresponding to the product information tothe label each time the product information changes (step 420). Notethat the product information read in step 410 may not be the exactinformation written in step 420. Known forms of digital and electronicpaper may be written to electronically as a grid of display elements.The information written in step 420 certainly reflects the productinformation to the view of a human reader and/or in machine-readableform, but this product information read in step 410 will typically haveto be converted to a bitmap to be displayed on the electronic label. Asa result, the information written to the label may be the productinformation, or may be information in a graphical format thatcorresponds to the product information, depending on how the electroniclabel is formatted and the interface for writing to the electroniclabel. In addition, the label interface 240 may include a table thatcorrelates product information to corresponding information to bedisplayed. Thus, the label interface 240 may read updated productinformation from the memory 230, find an entry in its internal table forthe updated product information, and display corresponding informationon the electronic label. The preferred embodiments expressly extend tothe display of any suitable information on the first region of the labelthat correspond to the product information in some way.

Referring to FIG. 5, a method 500 shows how the label is dynamicallychanged as failure information is updated. Note that the first region252 and second region 254 of the electronic label 250 shown in FIG. 2may be independently updated, which means one may be written withoutaffecting what is displayed on the other. The second region interface244 reads the failure information 234 in the memory 230 (step 510). Thesecond region interface 244 then writes data corresponding to thefailure information to the second region 254 of the electronic label 250each time the failure information changes (step 520). Note that methods400 and 500 in FIGS. 4 and 5, respectively, may run independently andasynchronously to each other, or may be synchronized to run at the sametime or in a defined sequence each time they are run.

The information that the label interface writes to the electronic labelincludes a human-readable form of information, and may optionallyinclude a machine-readable form of information such as a barcode.Barcodes are still in widespread use for tracking parts and assemblies.The human-readable information on the electronic label 250 allows ahuman service person to visually read product and failure informationcorresponding to the electronic product. The machine-readableinformation on the electronic label 250 allows easy inventory trackingof the electronic product and automated entry of failure information forthe product into a database. Note that radio frequency identification(RFID) is becoming more and more popular, and will likely replacebarcodes as the preferred way of tracking things. Even if RFID is usedon an electronic assembly, there is still a need for a human-readablelabel so a quality assurance person can verify proper assembly and so aservice person can determine the configuration and failure informationfor a failed product.

A simple example is now presented to illustrate the concepts of thepreferred embodiments. Referring to FIG. 6, a memory DIMM 600 is onesuitable example of the electronic product 210 in FIG. 2. The memoryDIMM 600 includes memory chips 610, a memory 230 that holds the productinformation and failure information, and the label interface 240. Theelectronic label 250 is attached to a substrate 620, shown more clearlyin FIG. 7, which provides structural support for the label 250. Theelectronic label 250 preferably displays a human-readable form ofproduct information, such as the IBM part number, 11J6040 shown inregion 252 in FIG. 6. The label 250 may optionally include amachine-readable form of information, such as the barcode shown in FIG.6. Note that label 250 in FIG. 6 is divided into two independent regions252 and 254, with region 252 displaying product information and region254 displaying failure information. The two regions 252 and 254 in FIG.6 are shown separated by a dotted line to indicate these regions areindependent from each other, and therefore one can be written withoutaffecting the information displayed on the other. Region 254 in FIG. 6shows the hours of operation and the date/time of the failure.

Referring to FIG. 7, the substrate 620 is supported by support 630 andconnector 640. Connector 640 provides electrical contact between theboard on which the label interface 240 is mounted and the electroniclabel 250. Label interface 240 may thus drive the electronic label 250via signal lines in the board, as shown by the line with arrows in FIG.7. The result is a memory DIMM 600 that includes an electronic label 250with a first region 252 that is automatically updated anytime theproduct information in the memory DIMM 600 indicates a change to theelectronic product and a second region 254 that is automatically updatedanytime the failure information in the memory DIMM 600 indicates afailure.

Note that some electronic products have physical enclosures, and thepreferred embodiments herein extend to the placement of an electroniclabel on a physical enclosure, as shown in the cutaway view of FIG. 8.We assume an electronic product 810 is an example of the electronicproduct 210 in FIG. 2. We further assume the electronic product 810includes an electronic assembly 820 that includes the memory 230 thatcontains the product information (232 in FIG. 2) and the failureinformation (234 in FIG. 2). Electronic assembly 820 also includes thelabel interface 240, and electronic assembly 820 is housed in anenclosure 830. The label interface 240 is electrically coupled to aconnector 840, which is connected via a suitable cable (such as a ribboncable) to a connector 860 that makes electrical contact with theelectronic label 250 on the outside of the enclosure 830. In thismanner, the product or failure information for the electronic product810 may be updated, and the update will be automatically reflected onthe appropriate region of the electronic label 250 on the outside of theenclosure 830. Note also that a single label on an enclosure coulddisplay failure information for multiple electronic products in theenclosure. For example, a personal computer (PC) could have an externallabel that shows failure information for all of the electronic productsin the PC, thereby allowing a technician to very quickly locate thefailed electronic product when the computer system fails.

The term “product information” specifically includes vital product data(VPD) as is known in the art, but may include additional information aswell. The term “failure information” may include any suitableinformation that may be displayed, both human-readable andmachine-readable, that may help to document a failure.

Method 300 in FIG. 3 assumes the failure information is determined bythe electronic product itself. In an alternative implementation, thefailure information may include information received from a sourceexternal to the electronic product. An example is now presented toillustrate. Referring to FIG. 9, a computer system 900 includes variousparts, and is also coupled to external devices. We assume thatelectronic product 910 is a specific example of an electronic product210 in FIG. 2, such as a DIMM module 600 shown in FIG. 6. Note thatfunctional circuitry in electronic product 910 is not shown in FIG. 9for the sake of clarity, but is understood to be present. Electronicproduct 910 includes a label interface 240 which includes a first regioninterface 242 and a second region interface 244 that drive first region252 and second region 254, respectively, of electronic label 250. Theelectronic product 910 is coupled to a system bus 920, shown in FIG. 9as an Inter-Integrated Circuit (I²C) bus. An operator panel 930 mayoptionally be coupled to the system bus 920, and an input/output devicesuch as an RFID scanner 940 could be used to exchange information withthe operator panel 930. In addition, a system service processor 950 maybe coupled to the system bus 920 to allow diagnostic and other systemservices to be run on the electronic product 910 and on other electronicproducts in computer system 900. The system service processor 950 may becoupled via a network 960 to service hardware 970 or to a web servicesoftware tool 980. Service hardware 970 may include any suitablehardware that may be used to perform service or run diagnostics oncomputer system 900. Web service tool 980 is a software tool that allowsa technician to remotely perform service or run diagnostics on computersystem 900.

Note that any of items 930, 940, 950, 970 and 980 in FIG. 9 may be inputdevices that can be a source of failure information external to theelectronic product 910 that is displayed in the second region 254 of theelectronic label 250. In addition, the system service processor 950 canalso be a system interface that electrically connects all possible inputdevices to label interfaces (e.g., 240 in electronic product 910 in FIG.9). The system bus 920 is what links all electronic products in thecomputer system 900.

Any input device may request that failure information be gathered anddisplayed in the second region 254 of the electronic label 250. Thisfailure information may include information from the electronic productitself, and may also include information from a source external to theelectronic product. For example, a memory DIMM such as 600 shown in FIG.6 typically does not include a real-time clock. If the date and time offailure needs to be recorded, the system service processor 950 couldinclude in the failure information the date and time of the failure froma real-time clock source that is external to the electronic product. Anelectronic product may not monitor its own runtime hours of operation,but the system service processor 950 could monitor runtime hours for allelectronic products in computer system 900. In addition, the failureinformation could include information for a different electronicproduct. For example, if a label on a first DIMM can be easily read by atechnician but the label on a second DIMM is blocked from view by thefirst DIMM, failure information for the second DIMM could be displayedon the electronic label of the first DIMM so the technician can readilydetermine that the second DIMM has failed without having to pull thesecond DIMM from its socket to read its label. The disclosure and claimsherein expressly extend to the display of any suitable failureinformation on a region of an electronic label that has multipleindependent regions, where the failure information may includeinformation completely contained or derived within the electronicproduct, may include information that is received from a source externalto the electronic product, and may include a combination of internal andexternal failure information.

Referring to FIG. 10, a method 1000 shows steps that could be performedby computer system 900 in FIG. 9. First, the system determines a failureoccurred (step 1010). The system then generates failure information thatincludes information not available on the electronic product (step1020). The system then directs the failure information be displayed onthe failure region of the electronic label on the electronic product(step 1030). In this manner information external to an electronicproduct regarding a failure may be displayed on the electronic label forthe electronic product.

In the description above, the label interface monitors failureinformation, and write data corresponding to the failure information tothe failure region of an electronic label when the failure informationchanges. Note, however, that the determination of what failureinformation to write or when to write it could be made using anysuitable heuristic or criteria. For example, failure information couldbe ranked according to the severity of the failure, which would preventlow-priority failure information from overwriting higher-priorityfailure information. Failure information could also be cumulative,simply tacking on new failure information to existing failureinformation. The disclosure and claims herein expressly extend to anymethod for writing data corresponding to failure information to afailure region of an electronic label that includes multiple regionsthat may be independently written.

Note that the failure information displayed in the failure region of theelectronic label may include machine-readable information. This wouldallow for the failure information to be stored in a database under aunique identifier. The unique identifier may then be displayed inmachine-readable form. By reading the identifier using a suitablereader, the corresponding failure information in the database may beretrieved. This is a significant improvement over prior art method 100in FIG. 1 because the steps of determining the cause of the productfailure and entering failure information for the electronic product areperformed automatically without human intervention. By displaying themachine-readable identifier, the corresponding machine-generated failureinformation may be retrieved from the database without the worry of thefailure information being incorrect or incomplete, and without requiringthe technician to be skilled in data mining.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that many variations are possiblewithin the scope of the claims. Thus, while the disclosure isparticularly shown and described above, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that these and other changes in form and details maybe made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of theclaims.

1. An electronic product comprising: a memory that contains failureinformation comprising first information generated by the electronicproduct in response to the electronic product determining a failure inthe electronic product and second information not available on theelectronic product, generated by and received from a source external tothe electronic product in response to determining a failure hasoccurred; a label that displays information electronically written tothe label and maintains a current display of information when power isremoved from the label, the label comprising a plurality of regions thatmay be independently written, the plurality of regions including a firstregion for the failure information; and a label interface coupled to thememory and coupled to the label that reads the failure information fromthe memory and electronically writes data corresponding to the failureinformation to the first region of the label.
 2. The electronic productof claim 1 wherein the data displayed in the first region of the labelincludes machine-readable data.
 3. The electronic product of claim 1wherein the data displayed in the first region of the label includeshuman-readable data.
 4. The electronic product of claim 1 wherein theplurality of regions on the label comprise a second region that includesproduct information for the electronic product.
 5. The electronicproduct of claim 1 wherein the second information comprises a date andtime.
 6. The electronic product of claim 1 wherein the secondinformation comprises runtime hours.